The Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, has revealed that some Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East planned attacks from the prison in connivance with prison warders.

Musa disclosed this on Tuesday, when he appeared before the House of Representatives, alongside the service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The CDS said about 73 unmanned forests have been taken over by bandits. He called for the extradition of Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from his operational base in Finland.

Musa decried the corrupt attitudes of some prison warders in the North-East and alleged that they aided arrested Boko Haram terrorists in planning their operatNortheaststated, “The issue of correctional facilities. In the Northeast, when we were debriefing some of the arrested Boko Haram, they were able to tell us how, from the prison, they could plan operations out in the field. They pass funds across.

“They use some of the warders there. We are not saying all of them are corrupt. They use their accounts, and the deal is that anyone whose account is used shares it 50/50. Those are the challenges.”

Musa lamented that media reportage in the country often glorified bandits and terrorists but demoralized soldiers.

He said, “Most times we think security is only the responsibility of security forces. I say no, everybody has a responsibility to play.

“We can never be everywhere. So, we need educational sensitization programs for all Nigerians to understand that security is everybody’s responsibility. What you see, you talk about it. You don’t just keep quiet and say that this is for the police or the army. Everybody has a role.

“We need to have a system, where we can train from schools, from primary school, where Nigerians can be made to understand they need to take ownership of security. The awareness will be made easier.”

The defense chief said they had realized that the magic wand to address insecurity was good governance, adding that anywhere there is good governance, insecurity goes down.

He explained that security did not connote only military security but included food, health, social, and education security, saying all these always play a role, and whenever good governance is lacking, there would be problems.

The CDS stated, “In the northeast, we can achieve so much because we have an element of good governance.

We have seen governors that are willing and doing things to make the people happy and that is why we are having the cases of success we are having.

“As I mentioned earlier, the issue of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) has remained the most potent threat that we have. They put these IEDs on the ground and because there are no roads, a vehicle climbs it and everyone in that vehicle is either killed or dismembered.

“So, this becomes a problem. If people cannot eat, if people are hungry, no matter how you tell them to keep the peace, they will not, and that breeds criminality. Those are the aspects we are looking at, particularly good governance.”

Musa also complained about the country’s porous borders, stressing that there are about a thousand border crossings, where people come in and out without checking.

He stated, “That is where we have the movement of light weapons and small arms. Human trafficking is rampant. We must establish good border control so that we can know the people coming in and going out.”

Musa added that Niger State alone had over 73 unmanned forests, saying these are places where non-state actors operate.

He alleged that the judiciary was frustrating the war against terrorism in the country.

According to him, “The issue of judiciary. I have been in the North-east. There were a lot of Boko Haram elements that have been captured. We have kept them for five/six years. We, the armed forces, can arrest but cannot prosecute.

Some of them have been found wanting but no prosecution. We are keeping them for this lengthy period – everyone is accusing the armed forces of keeping them against their human rights but we cannot prosecute.

“Another aspect of the judiciary is that you use all your effort to make an arrest, you hand them over, and before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released on bail. Now, you have risked yourself in doing that, by the time he is released, he goes to tell the people about the person who arrested him.

“Now your family members or you are at risk. It is getting to a state, where the security forces do not want to make any effort. We have the issue in the South-south. A lot of the ships – the last ship that was arrested, was arrested 10 years ago – the ship went and changed its name, changed its color, and came back again.

Ten years they were arrested again. By the time you hand over the ship, before you know it, it is released. I think that is one area we must look into. We must have a special court to look into it. That is why we arrest and destroy them because the longer we keep them, it becomes a problem because we come under pressure to release them.”

Musa said, “Simon Ekpa has become a menace to this country. The country must act on it diplomatically. Finland is having a freeway, encouraging him to do what he is doing. His utterances and actions are affecting what is happening in Nigeria.

We should never allow that. Our foreign service should step in. It is either we invite the ambassador to come and explain why they are protecting him. And he is doing us more harm because, by his utterances, a lot of people have been killed.”

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